Churchill Chronicles part 1
by Doc Lee
Summary: first part in a series of fics based around a small group of OC's with a smattering of old friends. Fic is complete, as are two more parts. Rating it M as the OC's don't mind uttering the F-word every now and again. MANY thanks to my Beta PA
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- **I don't own Stargate, if i did.... things would be different

This is the first part to a fanfiction i started a few years ago, and have now expanded it to three completed parts with another almost complete. This is actually Version two as my writing skills have improved since i started.... and i knew i could get the earlier work up to my current level before i was to show it off.

While this is ultimately a fanfic series full of OC's... i will be including a number of 'friends'.... and maybe even answer a few unfinished storylines that have been left hanging sincce SG:-1 (And maybe SG:A) finished.

As a Family show, Stargate has always stayed mild in reference to swearing and the such..... and while i've not written a gory sex-infested swear-fest, my fic's do include a smattering of the F-word. Also. as i've written three parts already.... there's not really anything i can change without forcing a major re-write of everything.

Constructive Crits are welcome.... Hope you enjoy

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Flt Lt. James Johnston was confused. Hot and confused.

Thirty six hours earlier he and the rest of his three man Hercules transport crew were instructed to board an unmarked Learjet where they would receive new orders... These orders had sent them to a deserted part of the Groome Lake facility in Nevada USA, better known as Area 51.

Well, almost deserted. A single hut stood a few meters away from where the Colonel stood.

'We ve come all this way for this?' Flt Off Richard McLaren poked his head round the back of the hut as he called out. At 27 Richard had joined as a teenager and risen through the rankings with ease, something a few higher ups had expressed surprise at. As part of James flight crew Richard had received a great deal of teaching from the older man and had turned down two separate offers of his own aircraft and flight crew to stay in the team.

Pushing his dark sunglasses up his nose Richard ran his hand through his short brown hair. At just over 6 foot Richard looked lanky, his slim-ish frame hiding a toned physique that Richard liked to maintain.

'Looks that way Rich,' Flt Off Louise (Lou) Sahara replied before sipping from a small water bottle. Three years older than Richard Louise sat as co-pilot to James, while Richard was the crew s navigator and part time cargo master. Just shy of 5 6 Louise had also joined as a young woman and, like Richard, had risen swiftly through the RAF ranking system.

Being a woman in the mainly male RAF Louise had suffered a few claims of unfair promotion and had heard a number of claims she d slept her way to her current rank. Happily she had proven the detractors wrong by doing what she d wanted to do since she was 8, Fly.

Retying her raven black hair into the ponytail she wore on duty Lou chuckled as she watched Richard circling the small hut. Like Richard the rigors of a military life kept her body slim and in shape. Long toned legs ending in a pert butt didn t help to stop the rumors, but Lou had long since ignored the sly comments sent her way.

'Well whatever it is we ve been sent here for,' James looked around at the flat desert landscape, 'We re two people short, General Jack O Neill and a Colonel Samantha Carter of the USAF.'

James was the eldest of the three at 37, and looked it. His short black hair was thinning at the back of his head and rapidly departing from his forehead. His muscular physique and his height of only 5 9 portrayed him as a larger man than he d like to be. To his pleasure he was quite capable of running longer, faster and quicker than most of the younger ranks, Richard and Lou included.

Tipping his blue cap up slightly James turned to the hut as the single door swung open, expelling the two officers he d just mentioned.

'Told ya they d be here already Carter,' Major General Jack O Neill smirked at the younger blonde woman.

'Yes Sir,' Colonel Samantha Carter sighed, though the grin she wore on her face stayed put.

'Flt Lt, Flt Off, Flt Off,' Jack looked over at the three Britons. 'I trust your flight over was enjoyable?'

'Yes Sir.' James responded automatically and was echoed by Lou and Richard.

'Permission to speak freely General?' Lou asked tentatively. 'But why are we standing in the middle of nowhere next to a shed?'

'Funny you should ask,' Jack said grinning before glancing at Carter and tipping his head in their general direction.

'The maneuvers your transport made during the SAM missile ambush in Afghanistan last week have brought you three to our attention. We believe that you are prime candidates for the -306 program.'

'The what Ma am?' Richard frowned as James spoke up.

'You all signed the NDA s on the jet?' O Neill looked at the team before him and smiled as he received three nods, 'Good. What I m about to show you falls directly under the terms in those NDA s.'

'Follow us,' General O Neill turned and re-entered the small hut. Once the rest of the group had entered and the doors closed O Neill typed a five digit code into a keypad on the wall and then added a 2 and a 0.

Abruptly the small room shifted and the occupants became aware of a rapid drop.

'What the hell have you got us into this time James?' Lou muttered as the lift slowed to a gentle halt and the doors began to open.

''Where are we?'' Richard gaped at the scene before the group.


	2. Chapter 2

Standing on a large balcony the trio of British military officers looked out over a scene that wouldn t be missed in a Bond film. The cavern stretched for at least a mile before them and was a hive of activity.

Ten large structures sat in two rows on the floor of the cavern, all in various stages of construction. The first two structures were the most completed and consisted of a large three storey box with a slightly curved front end, a separate pod was attached to either side of the main bulk of the structures and each pod held two large rocket thrusters. On the top of the main bulk sat a single storey structure.

'What are they?' Richard turned to the USAF officers.

'What you are looking at is the production line for the Deep Space Transport vessel,' Carter answered, 'otherwise known as the DST-306.'

'Deep Space?' Louise snapped her head round in shock, 'As in bloody spaceships?'

'Yup,' O Neill smirked, before turning to Carter, 'You wanna explain it all?'

'Back in the 30 s a team of archeologists uncovered a large ring in the middle east...' Carter then went on to explain the nature of the Stargate program, 'Five years ago the USAF commissioned the first in a long line of space worthy craft built from technologies uncovered by the SGC. The first prototype, the X-301, didn t entirely go to plan.'

'Is that what you d call it Carter?' O Neill shivered, 'I don t remember it being slightly off plan, in fact I remember it as being freaking cold.'

'The next craft, the X-302 was a success though,' Carter continued, seemingly ignoring the interruption, 'and it has been put into service as Earths first space-capable fighter plane. Tomorrow the General and I will take you down to the F-302 hanger on the other side of Area-51.'

'Once the F-302 project was completed,' Carter continued to talk as she escorted the trio down a gangway along the cavern wall, 'Attention was then focused on a viable hyperspace-capable space craft that could be used in the defense of Earth. The X-303 was that ship. Able to carry 6 F-302s and crewed by around 200 crew members the Prometheus was the only ship in its class to be built.'

'Hyperspace?' James frowned.

'A real world Warp drive,' Carter answered, 'It means we can traverse the entire galaxy in only a few days.'

'Nice,' James chuckled.

'Two years ago one of our off-world allies gave us some of their technology to upgrade the Prometheus,' Carter continued as the group approached the end of the walkway, 'better shields, engines and weapons. It was soon apparent that it was simpler to build a completely new class of spaceship with the technology built in than it was to try and upgrade the Prometheus.'

'And thus the Deep Space Cruiser...' Carter started as she opened the double doors that stood at the end of the walkway.

'Carrier,' O Neill corrected.

'-304 was created,' Carter again ignored the comment. All three RAF officers also ignored the comment as their attention was on the scene before them.

The double doors lead through to another large cavern. This one housing a damaged Daedalus.

'This is the DSC-304,' Carter waved her arm out at the ship, 'Specifically the USS-Daedalus, the first ship of its class to be built. We have two -304 s currently in service with another two undergoing testing and training.'

'So we have three warp capable space ships in service for Earth?' Richard looked form the Daedalus back to Carter.

'No,' Carter sighed, 'The Prometheus was destroyed last year with the loss of about 40 crew members.'

'Crap,' James muttered.

'I m guessing this one s been in a battle recently as well?' Richard pointed at a large gash along the side of the Daedalus.

'That s correct,' O Neill replied, 'And it s also why we ve brought you here today. One of the Daedalus main duties is to run the supply route between Earth and the Atlantis outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy.'

'We have rushed a -306 into service a month before it s intended date,' O Neill revealed, 'And it is felt that you three would be the best personnel to crew this ship and take over the Daedalus supply duties until it is repaired and back in service.'

'Why us?' Louise frowned, Why not get a USAF team in?

'Firstly,' O Neill calmly replied, 'Four of the ships out there are to be used in the RSF so you guys and girl will be flying your own sooner or later. Secondly we ve seen the footage of you evading the SAM storm in Helmand. That it just the type of flying you d need out in space.'

'RSF?' Richard frowned.

'Royal Space Force,' Carter replied, 'As part of the 2006 Stargate Agreement Britain, Along with Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand, will be creating a small space fleet.'

'You guys will be operating a squadron of F-302s, the four -306 s and one of the two -304s that are about to go into service,' O Neill revealed as he leant against the railing around the balcony they stood upon, 'Australia and New Zealand are sharing the other -304 and Canada and France are getting two squadrons of -302s each.'

'Tired of doing it all yourself then?' James quipped.

'Would you like to take a look at the ship before you accept all of this?' O Neill casually waved at the double doors back to the production hanger

'If the boss is in then I m in,' Richard looked over at James.

'I d like to see more before I accept,' James replied as Louise nodded her support to the answer.

'Then what are we waiting around for,' O Neill pushed himself off the railings, 'Lead on Carter.'


	3. Chapter 3

Leaving the small confines of the lift out onto the floor of the production cavern was like walking out of an office block. The massive hulks that made up the DST-306's rose up around the small group.

'Blimey,' Louise muttered. 'Anyone else feel a bit like Jack in the giant's lair?'

Chuckling O'Neill pointed to the only completed ship in the massive space, 'And so, this is your ship.'

Looking up the three RAF officers was able to appreciate just how large the ship actually was. The cargo bay doors, which were located on the left hand side of the ships main bulk, were open and the trio could look right into the cavernous hold.

'Shall we go in?' O'Neill started up the large ramp leading from the floor into the ship.

Inside the cargo hold Richard let out a low whistle, 'Blimey, this is bigger than the Hercules.'

'Much bigger,' Carter spoke up after a slight nod from O'Neill. 'As you can see we have installed a walkway around the edge of the hold that connects the living quarters in the nose of the ship to the business end of the craft. We have two small elevators, one just here by the cargo doors and the other at the rear of the hold. There is also a small single pilot ship I designed that'll replace the need for a forklift, plus an overhead crane to assist in the movement of the cargo.'

'Let's go look at the fun end of the ship,' O'Neill yawned and ambled over to the nearest lift, 'Come one.'

Squeezing into the small space Louise voiced her surprise at the size.

'Yeah,' Carter laughed, 'We didn't really expect to have so many people in here if I'm honest.'

Stepping out onto the overhead gangway Richard pointed to the crane slung just underneath, 'Where are the master controls for this?'

'We've got two control points,' Carter replied as O'Neill led the group to the rear. 'One is over to here near the bridge access points, while the other is on the bridge itself.'

'And now for the bridge itself,' O'Neill smirked before bounding up the one of the two stairways.

'Stepping onto the bridge James's attention was brought to the centre of the room. Two large consoles sat before a large sectional window that looked out over the ship. Between, just behind and slightly raised up sat what James guess was the captain's chair.

'Whoa!' Richard cried, 'Hologram?'

James turned round to see Richard and Lou standing at a long table split in two, both portions were topped with a white screen, while the right hand side displayed a small holographic representation of the ship.

'This is the latest in holographic technology,' Carter started tapping commands into a small keyboard that sat on one side of the hologram table's screen. Immediately the ship images started to rotate, 'With this system you can see the status of every single system aboard the ship, from the oxygen to the heat, even any damage to the outer hull.'

'Also,' O'Neill jumped in as Carter continued to type commands into the table, 'this system will show you the status of each cargo container you'll be carrying. The system is able to show 5 different types of cargo. Foodstuffs, general cargo, fragile cargo, explosive cargo and non explosive military cargo.'

'Nice,' Lou nodded appreciatively before pointing to the empty side of the table, 'what goes here?'

Holographic 3D radar system,' O'Neill grinned, 'It can detect anything and everything for over 100 light years and can tell the difference between a simple lump of space rock and anything to be worried about.'

'Over here we've got the nerve point of the ship,' Carter pointed to the two consoles, 'Pilot's console is to the right, navigator and weapons is to the left, with the captain's chair sat in between.'

'Weapons?' Richard's eyes widened. 'Space lasers?'

'Not yet,' O'Neill chuckled as Lou sighed loudly, 'For now it's just ten rail guns and four Naquadah enhanced nukes.'

'NUKES!' Lou paled significantly as James and Richard exclaimed loudly.

'No,' James shook his head violently, 'No Nukes, not a chance. Not on a plane or space ship I fly.'

'That'll be something to talk about later then,' O'Neill looked at the British pilot with a stony expression.

'You betcha,' James huffed.

Clearing her throat to clear the tense atmosphere that had descended in the room Carter motioned out the window behind her

'Shall we take a look at the living quarters?' She quietly proposed. Silently the group trundled over the empty cargo bay and into the small living quarters.

'Divided over two levels you have four separate sleeping quarters,' Carter revealed as the group stood in the upper level. 'And a small washing area down the stairway there,' Carter pointed across the open room.

'Obviously this level is the recreation room and food prep areas,' O'Neill snorted as the trio of RAF officers explored the room.

'Yup,' O'Neill smirked as James noticed a TV monitor hooked onto the bulkhead, 'With the nature of the ship and the fact you could be away from Earth for many a month it was decided to allow crews to stock their ships with DVDs and other personal items.'

'Though damage to anything you bring aboard isn't covered?' Richard Slyly looked out from the kitchenette area.

'Afraid so,' Carter shrugged.

Suddenly General O'Neill's face lit up with a gleeful smirk.

'Oh no,' Carter groaned.

'Anyone wanna take this baby for a joyride?' O'Neill's smirk widened when the three officers said yes.

'General O'Neill to whoever is in charge up in the control room,' O'Neill spoke into the ships radio as he settled into the pilot's seat. 'Everyone ready for this ship to move?'

'Yes Sir,' a voice replied, 'As per your orders the production line is clear and the hanger doors are open.'

'As per your orders?' Carter glared at O'Neill,

'Ah,' O'Neill looked slightly chastised, 'I…. forgot. Forgive me?'

'Yasureyabetcha,' Carter sighed as she slipped into the navigator's seat, 'Johnson, wanna take your chair for this?'

'Right,' O'Neill declared a few minutes later, 'Away we go.'

With a slight shudder the large craft rose from the floor of the cavern and gently made its way across the massive space towards an opening.

'Everything looks green Sir,' Carter announced as the ship passed out of the cavern and through a long tunnel carved into the rock.

'Good,' O'Neill smirked as he guided the ship into a large circular space, 'Upwards and onwards,' With the engines throbbing away the ship rose up, slowly emerging out of a large hanger used to disguise the opening to the production plant below.

'Whoa,' Richard remarked as O'Neill pushed the thrusters to full power. 'Not even a shudder.'

'Good,' Lou watched in awe as the light blue of a Nevada sky morphed into the blackness of space, 'Wow.'

'Wow indeed Lou,' James got up out of the chair and walked over to the bridge window. Turning back James looked O'Neill in the eye, 'I'm in, where do I sign?'


	4. Chapter 4

If James had thought going through the RAF academy was tough, no one could have prepared him for the training he and the rest of the team were put through in the two weeks after being transferred into the RASF.

For almost 18 hours a day James, Lou and Richard were put through their paces. From endurance training to long technical briefings into just how their new ship worked and what to do if something went wrong and familiarizing themselves with the characteristics of their ship while in flight, the trio found themselves with very little time for sleep, let alone down time.

XXXXXXXX

'Yet another damn briefing,' Richard muttered as he sat down at the now familiar table, 'What now?'

'Now,' General O'Neill announced s he entered the room, 'It's time.'

'Time?' James cocked an eyebrow as O'Neill sat himself at the head of the table.

'Mission time,' O'Neill slid three folders down the table. 'In two days you will be leaving for Atlantis with some much needed supplies.'

'Two F-302s?' Richard frowned as he read the cargo manifest.

'Yeah,' Training exercise went wrong,' O'Neill grimaced, 'All four pilots survived, but the planes were unsalvageable.'

'Why in two days?' James looked up from his folder.

'Give you a few hours to see your families,' O'Neill smiled. 'And pack a few comforts for the voyage.'

'When do we leave?' James asked.

'We've got a Lear ready right now,' O'Neill replied, 'Wheels up in fifteen.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Standing on the gangway around the ship's Cargo bay James watched as Richard oversaw the loading of the two F-302s and the rest of the cargo.

'Still going?' Lou appeared alongside and leant on the railing.

'Almost done,' James smiled, 'The munchkins say hello by the way.'

'How's Lily?' Lou chuckled as she asked about James infant niece.

'Wild as ever,' James beamed proudly, 'Where'd you go on down time by the way? I noticed you got away without telling us earlier.'

'I saw Dad,' Lou sniffed. 'Made sure the grave was looking nice before we left.'

Reaching out James rubbed Lou's shoulder gently, 'Hey, he'd be proud of you, you know?'

As Lou opened her mouth to reply Richard bellowed up from the bay floor.

'All done down here. Fully loaded and ready to go once we close the boors!'

'Good!' James bellowed back down, 'Get ya arse up here then.'

'Ladies first,' James motioned to Lou as they turned to the stairwells up to the bridge.

'Chivalry?' Lou giggled as she climbed the stairs. 'Or did you just want to check out my butt?'

'Definitely Chivalry,' James grinned as he over exaggerated looking at her rump.

Pre-fight checks went smoothly, every system registered as green, which pleased the trio.

'Control this is the RSF….' James faltered as he radioed the control room, 'Um, Gary. Permission to leave the facility?'

'RSF Gary,' O'Neill's voice conveyed the smirk he held, 'Permission to leave. Safe trip.'

'Take her away Lou,' James sat back in his chair as he spoke.

Gently the large ship rose up for the hanger floor and rotated round to face the access to the surface. Dialing up the thrust in single digit percentages, Lou piloted the ship up through the tunnel. As the surface doors opened Richard tapped a command into and the ship shimmered slightly as the cloaking system came online just in time for the ship to reach the now open doors.

'Switching to 50% thrust,' Lou announced as the ship flew higher into the evening sky.

'We far enough out yet?' James asked after a handful of minutes in space.

'That we are,' Lou replied, 'entering hyperspace co-ordinates now. Permission to activate the hyperspace generator when ready?'

'Granted,' James nodded as the view out of the bridge window seemed to stretch for a couple of seconds before it switched to the swirling blue of hyperspace.

'So,' Richard turned to the other two, 'Anyone for scrabble?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Three weeks after setting off from Earth on their maiden supply run to Atlantis the crew of the first RSF -306 were getting used to the long periods of nothing but overseeing systems.

Leaving the crew quarters James noticed Lou running laps around the cargo bays gangway. As he neared the bridge stairwell Lou caught up with her CO.

'Finally awake then?' Lou puffed slightly as she stopped.

'And who was it we had to wake up two hours into her shift last week?' James smirked as Lou glared back.

'Hey I was up late doing serious work,' Lou retorted, 'Something's a bit off with the hyper drive readings.'

'You were saying something about that,' James sobered quickly, 'is it still playing up?

'It was when I came off shift,' Lou replied before squeezing past James and jogging up the stairs and onto the bridge

'It's still there,' Lou announced as she leant over a console, 'Still just 0.000002% out of alignment.'

'Is it possible the hyper drive safety systems will kick in cuz of that?' James frowned deeply, 'We're still a day out of Atlantis and far beyond the reach of the Atlantis F-302s.'

'Nothing indicates that we've got a failure building up,' Lou squinted at the screen. 'But I would definitely get the hyper drive checked out when we arrive.'

'How far out are we exactly?' James looked across the bridge at Richard.

'Roughly 21 hours out,' was the reply. '20 hours and 30 minutes until we come within any real assistance range from them as well.'

'Then let's hope we don't need it,' Lou sighed.

'Right,' James sat himself in his seat, 'Richard go take five hours down time.'

'But…' Richard opened his mouth to protest, but James cut him off.

'Rich, you've been on duty for almost 15 hours straight, right now if we have a problem then you're no use. Go take at least five hours rest, then come back.'

Knowing his CO made sense Richard sighed and slid his seat back, before standing and leaving the bridge.

'Same goes for you Lou,' James turned to the younger woman as he took Richards seat.

'Don't have a choice do I?' Lou shook her head in acceptance.

'Nope.'

'Then I will see you in five hours,' Lou smirked as she trotted after Richard.

'And no spending the five hours running around the walkway!' James called down the stairs after his fellow officer.

Elsewhere on the ship a small relatively minor cable connection shuddered and a millimeter gap appeared between the two ports.


	5. Chapter 5

'Damn it!' Lou cursed as she watched the screen before her light up with a hyper drive failure warning, 'Hyper drive failure in 3, 2, 1.'

Sliding in his seat from the jolt of the abrupt hyper space exit James heard two soft grunts as his crew were thrown against their stations.

'Everyone ok?' James looked between the two.

'Yeah,' Lou replied as Richard swore.

'Bugger,' Richard thumped his station, 'Hyper drive is dead. Communications are damaged, we've got short range in and out but we can only receive long range, not send.'

'That's not the worst of it,' Lou called out as her console started to sound an alarm, 'We've jumped straight in the path of a wraith scout ship,' More beeping joined the alarm, 'which has just launched Darts!'

'Turning behind him James watched on the holo-radar as a small swarm of blobs approached the miniature representation of the ship.

'Are we within the Atlantis long range sensors?' James shouted as the ship rocked from the first volley of incoming fire

'We are,' Richard shouted back as Louise began evasive maneuvers, 'And we are receiving a communication from them.'

'RSF ship, this is Elizabeth Weir, We read you on our long range sensors along with the Wraith scout. Jumpers and F-302s are being launched as I speak. They should be with you within twenty minutes

'Too long,' Louise replied as she threw the ship into a roll to avoid fire from the scout ship.

'Ideas to keep us alive longer?' James winced slightly as the rail guns sliced through a pair of darts just of the port bow.

'We've got the F-302s,' Richard piped up as he attempted to operate the ships rail guns independent of each other, 'I can put the weapons on automatic and Lou and I could raise merry hell out there with the two fighters, maybe buy us some more time.'

'It could work,' Lou agreed. 'The ship's not sending out any more darts and there's only a fair few out there. The main worry is the scout itself.'

'How long will it take to get the fighters ready? James asked.

'Five-ten minutes,' Richard replied, 'it's literally a case of strapping ourselves in, turning it on and flying out of here. We've only got the plasma cannons on the fighters, so arming them won't take long.'

'Go,' James ordered as he stepped over to Lou's station.

'Righty-ho,' Richard tapped a command into his station, 'Rail guns on auto, IFF ID system activated.'

'Good,' James slid into Lou's seat as she slid out, control of the ship seamlessly changing hands, 'Go.'

Nodding silently Richard turned and bolted down the stairwell nearest to him.

'Lou,' James stopped the younger woman as she reached the opposite stairwell, 'Be careful ok?'

'I will,' Lou replied quietly before silently disappearing down the stairs.

Jerking the ship about to avoid the fire from the Wraith ship James lost sense of time and was surprised when Richard called through the radio.

'All set down here,' Richard announced. 'The bay door shield is activated and we're ready to go once you open the doors.'

'Opening the doors now,' James replied as he threw the ship into a spin to bring the cargo door facing away from the wraith ship, giving the two fighters a small amount of protection as they leave the ship.

'On my mark,' James kept one eye on the radar as he watched the bay doors open on another screen, 'Almost…..'

'NOW!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At James' bellow Richard fired his lead fighter into full thrust and shot out the larger ship. Pulling the control stick up he curled his fighter up and over the top of the freighter and let loose with his plasma cannons.

Barely a beat after Richard had left the ship, Lou followed suit. While Richard had pulled up and over the ship Lou swung down and came at the advancing Darts from under the -306.

'RSF vessel,' a new voice burst over the radio. 'First wave of support is five minutes out second is another three behind that.'

Realizing that the new voice was speaking over the short range radio James responded, 'Thank fuck. Listen I've just sent my two crew members out in the F-302s we were carrying.'

'I'm reading that,' the voice replied. 'John Sheppard by the way.'

'James Johnson RSF,' James automatically responded, 'But you already knew that Col.'

'That I did,' Sheppard replied with a chuckle. 'I've got four jumpers with me in the first wave, my 2IC is behind with the F-302s.'

'We really need that help fast Col,' James grunted as the ship was hit by a wave of fire from the Wraith ship.

'Letting loose a couple of drones now,' Sheppard replied as the two yellow streaks flew away from the advancing Jumper group.

'Whoa!' Richard cried out as one of the drones narrowly missed his fighter, 'Hit them, not me!'

Lining up a pair of darts Lou found herself smirking at her crew mate. Depressing the fire button Lou watched as the two darts disintegrated into fireballs

'Carson,' Sheppard called out over the radio, 'Stick with the 302 on the far right. Keelson, on the other fighter. That's your replacement fighter, so don't let it get broken before you can crash it ok?'

'Aye,' Dr Carson Beckett responded as he linked up with Lou's -302 while Keelson fell into formation just off Richard's wing.

'Weapons free people,' Sheppard called out as he turned his jumpers attention to the Wraith ship,' JJ, wanna help me get rid of this thing?'

'JJ,' Louise laughed over the radio, 'I like it.'

Glaring James brought the freighter around and began a run on the wraith ship, rail guns blasting away as Sheppard let loose three drones into the Wraith ship's engines.

A cheer went up as the ship erupted into space dust.

'Vampire Hunters on Scene,' Mjr Evan Lorne announced as he lead one of the two Atlantis F-302 squadrons into the battle. 'Good shooting Sirs.'

'Late again I see Lorne?' Sheppard smirked as the fighters blasted their way through the remaining darts with ease.

'No Sir,' Lorne replied. 'You're just too quick.'

'Mike!' Sheppard called out suddenly back to serious mode, 'Two darts on your tail.'

'Got them,' Lou grunted as her plasma cannons tore through the two darts.

'Tha….ou,' Mike's replied was garbled and almost smothered in static, 'Dam….kers got com…unit. Reive can't…out proper… reques… return… base?'

'Granted Mjr,' Sheppard replied.

'Sheppard, would you mind if I get this ship on the ground?' James huffed as an alarm sounded on the bridge, 'Looks like a dart hit something vital. Engines are playing up. I can get her down safely, but it has to be ASAP.'

'Go ahead,' Sheppard replied, 'Lorne, you and your men clean up the stragglers, Carson, Keelson and Kavas, return to base.'

'Same goes for you two,' James ordered Lou and Richard.

'Yes JJ,' was the replied James received in perfect unison.

Muttering quietly about insubordinate subordinates James turned his limping ship towards where the navigation told him Atlantis was and began the slow trek, four jumpers and three F-302s following close behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

'My God,' Richard gasped as Atlantis came into view for the first time, 'It's amazing.'

'That it is laddie,' Carson chuckled.

'If you Brits follow Mike he'll show you where the landing zone is,' Sheppard spoke up as the jumpers peeled away from the procession, 'Jumpers are stored in the tip of the main tower. I'll meet you on the airstrip ASAP.'

'Look forward to seeing you Sheppard,' James watched as Mike took the earth built ships towards one of the piers.

Despite the engine troubles James was able to land the freighter without difficulties while Lou and Richard taxied to separate standing points. Waiting until the systems showed a total shut down of the engines James clambered stiffly out of the chair and stretched before heading down to the cargo bay.

As the lift doors opened James visible flinched as he found himself staring straight into Lou's face.

'Holy fuck,' James cried, 'Don't do that.'

'Giggling Lou stepped back, allowing her CO to leave the small lift.

'Land the plane wheels down this time?' James smirked.

'For god's sake!' Lou's exasperated cry was accompanied by her arms flailing, 'One time, one damn time I land upside down and neither of you will let me forget it. Leave it alone or I'll mention to Sheppard about that time you 'borrowed' the Base commander's car.'

'Okay,' James nervously laughed as the duo passed through the open bay doors and stepped foot on Atlantis for the first time.

'There's Richie,' Lou pointed at a small gaggle of people.

James watched as Richard spotted his two teammates and clearly paled, 'What's he done now?' James muttered as they approached the group.

Spotting that the remainder of the freighters crew was approaching one of the pilots pointed and the group all turned to greet the two.

Before anyone could utter a word a loud 'TWACK' was heard and one of the pilots was thrown onto his backside by the force of Lou's punch.

'What in the goddamn fuck are you doing here?' Louise screeched at the fallen man, 'If I knew it was you up there I'd have shot your ship up not theirs you fucker.'

Surprised by the venom in the woman's voice the pilots all stood staring at their fallen comrade.

The man felt his nose, wincing as he realized she'd broken it again and looked up at the apocalyptic with rage woman standing over him.

'Hey sis.'


End file.
